IT Power is leading a consortium of three British consultancies which has been awarded a UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office funded project to provide support to the Government of India in the formation of its offshore wind industry. IT Power Consulting, CmY Consultants and SeaChange Offshore have partnered to deliver a 10-month long project that is focusing on the delivery of a concession competition process for new offshore wind projects and a financial model to better estimate the costs of future Indian projects.
The Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been developing a policy dedicated to offshore wind for the past few years and had this approved by Cabinet in September 2015. With the policy now in place, this project is intended to provide key elements required for the regulatory framework and to help progress the industry closer to its first projects.
IT Power is building on the work it accomplished during a previous 18-month long project that provided early support to policy makers through recommendations based on Europe’s experiences, knowledge transfer during workshops and delegation visits to the UK. The addition of CmY Consultants and SeaChange Offshore brings both extensive financial analysis and project development experience to the project and will help MNRE better understand project costs and the requirements of project developers. During this project the consultants will spend time engaging with the local industry to obtain feedback on the competition process and to determine the level of interest in offshore wind projects in India.
MNRE and the nodal agency, National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), are taking a strategic approach in the formation of this industry and will use the coming two years to collect offshore wind measurements and gather site data to help plan the first projects and future pipeline. It is currently anticipated that the competition for the first offshore wind projects will start in early 2018 and be open to both international and local applicants.
This project intends to consult industry in the coming months and details will soon be publicised on how companies can register their interest to be part of this consultation.
